Since it had to play World of Warcraft, and I wanted it to be a native Mac version of the game, and since it was replacing a slightly older Gateway FX, I opted for the 27″ quad core 8 GB bad-mamma-jamma version of the iMac.

While I type this World of Warcraft is sitting in a windowed mode while the in-game video I just recorded compresses (in-game). Now to upload to YouTube and see what we get.

Okay, a few complications. The whole trip exceeded 10 minutes, and/or, 2GB. So I trimmed it to start in Dalaran and conclude as I hearth back. (The trimming and sending to YouTube was done via the QuickTime player directly. Nice.)

Oh yes, all the while I’ve got a widget called Wallify that is animating my desktop using one of my screen savers. So my whole desktop is animated. (Actually a slideshow treated to the “Ken Burns” effect of movement on a stillshot.)

So, while I wait, how’s the switch to the Mac been, game wise? I’m using the larger iMac keyboard (with the number pad.) It’s fine. And I kept my Death Adder Razor mouse, which I use alongside the Magic Mouse (sweet, sweet mouse) for other Apple business. The mouse tracking seems weird for both. Too slow, or too twitchy.

(My video is half loaded now.)

Anyway, one very, very noticeable difference graphically, between my old computers GeForce card, and this new one’s ATI, is the richness of the color. And underwater was spectacular. Compared to my old machine, which ran graphics on Ultra setting, the Mac’s underwater was freaking incredible. Which is great news if part of the next expansion expands the game world underwater.

Anyway, here’s that video. Since it’s at the 2GB limit, it’s surprisingly poor quality. YouTube says more processing is happening and the image my improve. Who knows if that’ll be the case.